Same-sex marriage case stirs passions on all sides

OLYMPIA – Thousands of demonstrators crowded the Capitol lawn Tuesday as the state’s highest court heard arguments to overturn a 1998 law banning same-sex marriage.

“What happens now will affect us all for a very long time,” said Joe Fuiten, president of Washington Evangelicals for Responsible Government.

The two combined cases that were argued Tuesday pit same-sex couples – including two Spokane lesbians – against government and social conservatives.

It is discriminatory, same-sex couples argue, for government to grant privileges and a myriad of special legal rights solely to heterosexual couples.

“Marriage is a good thing for children and for couples. We’re simply asking for more of that good thing,” said attorney Paul Lawrence, representing the American Civil Liberties Union, which is siding with the plaintiffs.

The nine justices heard nearly two hours of arguments, and typically take months to issue a decision. If the court strikes down the state’s seven-year-old “Defense of Marriage” law, Lawrence said, it would pave the way for counties to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Judges in King County and Thurston County have ruled that by defining marriage solely as between a woman and man, the state is violating the constitutional requirement that government not grant special favors to certain groups. Both those suits were merged into the Supreme Court case heard Tuesday.

Social conservatives argue that the perks of marriage – like inheritance rights or joint ownership of property – are designed to foster a stable environment for any kids resulting from the marriage. And kids, they say, do best with a mother and a father.

“Kids have a birthright to having a mom and a dad,” said Jeff Kemp, president of Families Northwest.

Men and women think and act differently, and those differences strengthen the union, said gay-marriage foe Carrie Abbott. She compared a heterosexual marriage to cooking.

“When you are a chef, you ‘marry’ raspberry and chocolate,” she said. “You don’t marry chocolate and chocolate. It’s the two becoming one.”

In the hours before the court showdown Tuesday, thousands of social conservatives crowded the Capitol lawn for a “Mayday for Marriage” rally. People sang patriotic songs and waved little American flags. Scores carried signs reading “1 Man + 1 Woman = Marriage.” One man lugged around a 7-foot-tall crucifix made of four-by-fours.

“We have strong convictions about what marriage is, and we wanted to be here ahead of that (court argument) to pray and let people know we’ve got some strong feelings about it,” said Doug Malott, senior pastor at the Rock of Ages Christian Fellowship in Spokane. He brought three van loads of worshipers, including youth groups from Spokane and Colville.

The Bible defined an Adam-and-Eve model for marriage, Malott said, and that’s what the state should support.

“We don’t have anything against homosexuals per se,” he said. “We don’t like their sexual behavior.”

On the other side of the issue was Ryan Olson, a Gonzaga University junior. He’s gay and he hopes one day to marry. He was one of about a dozen Gonzaga students and friends who traveled to the capital to show support for gay marriage.

“It’s sad that they can’t see the beauty that’s in me, or people like me,” Olson said, watching Kemp and religious leaders giving speeches on the Statehouse steps. “I come from them. I’m Catholic. A lot of my beliefs and values come from the same place theirs do.”

Scores of people, hoping to get seats inside the courtroom, lined up hours before the doors opened. Among them: Spokane’s Marge Ballack and her partner of 26 years, Diane Lantz. They are two of the plaintiffs suing the state. The two married two years ago in British Columbia – a marriage that Washington does not recognize.

Despite a two-hour wait, the two were shoved and didn’t get a seat to hear their own case. They ended up with scores of other citizens, sitting in plastic chairs and watching the proceedings on closed-circuit TV in the marble-lined Temple of Justice lobby.

“We were just devastated,” said Lantz.

To Ballack, the court battle felt like history in the making.

“It doesn’t feel weird at all,” she said, looking around at the bronze light fixtures and marble walls. “It feels like an honor.”

Outside, a man carried a huge “Trust Jesus” sign, topped with an American flag. He also wore a sandwich board reading “Fear God … Love Warns the Wicked.”

Inside the courtroom, attorneys supporting same-sex marriage argued that gay couples can have children through adoption, surrogate mothers or sperm donors.

“What legitimate purpose is served by discriminating against a class of children just because their parents are lesbian or gay?” said Patricia Novotny, with the Northwest Women’s Law Center.

Many of the same-sex marriage proponents said they hope the time will come when the ban on same-sex marriage will be viewed as a historical relic, like the segregation policies that led to the federal Brown v. Board of Education civil rights case.

“We know that the thing that makes the biggest difference is when people get to know us,” said Jenny Pizer, with Lambda Legal, a gay- and lesbian-law group. “We’re law-abiding, tax-paying citizens.”

Pastor Fuiten, however, cited a poll indicating that only in King County is there majority support for same-sex marriage.

“The fact is that most people in Washington state are with us,” he said.